07/08/2021
As of July 1, there is a simple way for people to address their immediate hunger needs in downtown Southington. St. Paul’s Episcopal Church has installed a Little Free Pantry at 145 Main Street. Like the more familiar Little Free Library, the Little Free Pantry is a wooden box open to all. It houses non-perishable food, personal hygiene items, and paper goods. With the motto “Give what you can, take what you need,” the pantry is open at all hours, and anyone is welcome to use it.
The operation of the Little Free Pantry is simple. Donated items are accessible to anyone who visits the pantry, no questions asked, at any hour of the day or night. Kate Palinkos, a parishioner at St. Paul’s and organizer of the Little Free Pantry, says, “With the support of the entire Southington community, the LFP will hopefully sustain itself: when people are able to donate, they will, and others will benefit from using those items.” The pantry is located prominently in the St. Paul’s driveway for easy access. The church is a landmark in town—for their former pumpkin patch, being the first location of Bread for Life, using their parking lot as a turnaround to get to the post office, or just as the little brown church with the red doors. Thus, the pantry is in a central, accessible location.
The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the ongoing food insecurity faced by many families and individuals, especially in Connecticut. Food insecurity, as defined by the USDA, is a “household-level economic and social condition of limited or uncertain access to adequate food.” According to the CT Food Bank, food insecurity was predicted to rise 28% due to the pandemic—and as many as 1 in 4 children in Connecticut would be at risk. The economic effects of the pandemic will be long-lasting, even as numbers for the disease have fallen.
The idea for the Little Free Pantry at St. Paul’s came to Palinkos last November. When the Rt. Rev. Dr. Laura Ahrens, Bishop Suffragan of the Episcopal Church in Connecticut, visited St. Paul’s and preached about adaptive leadership. When Bishop Ahrens told the story of Tiernan Cabot, the young entrepreneur who started Hartford Bags of Love, Kate Palinkos was inspired. She began organizing the Little Free Pantry at St. Paul’s. Palinkos says, “This is a way for us to look out for each other.”
On Tuesday, July 27 at 6pm, St. Paul’s will hold a ribbon-cutting ceremony to formally commission their Little Free Pantry. Bishop Ahrens will bless the pantry. All are invited to join the ceremony. As of July 1, the St. Paul’s pantry is open and available for use, either for donation of food and goods or for people to use the items in it.
The church hopes the pantry will be a way for neighbors to help neighbors in town. “We envision our Little Free Pantry complementing the other pantry and food services in Southington,” says the Rev. Helena Martin, Missional Curate at St. Paul’s. “It’s a little something to fill in those unexpected gaps that arise in people’s lives.” Find out more about the St. Paul’s Little Free Pantry at http://www.stpaulssouthington.org/pantry.
